World class researchers with very different expertise are coming together to help improve the lives of people living with cystic fibrosis, thanks to the ongoing support from AJN Steelstock.
Cystic fibrosis is a rare genetic condition where people with two copies of the faulty CF gene are born with a life limiting condition. Over 10,000 people in the UK are affected by CF, which causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and many other parts of the body.
Most people with CF will develop a number of bacterial, fungal and viral infections throughout their lifetimes and once these infections adapt to the environment of CF lungs, they can be extremely difficult to treat.
Generously supported by AJN Steelstock, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust is funding world-leading research at its Innovation Hub at the University of Cambridge to develop new medicines and better treat CF infections.
Alongside novel and cutting-edge approaches to treat these infections, researchers at the Innovation Hub are also looking at:
- How and when people become infected with these bugs?
- How to predict when a worsening of infection within the lungs is likely to occur?
- How the knock-on effects of infection can be treated?
Thanks to AJN Steelstock, profound progress in these areas has been made including the identification of new data on why some strains of bacteria cause aggressive infections in people with CF, the application of cutting-edge techniques to develop new medicines, and the development and testing of an app that could allow early prediction of flare ups of lung infection with people with CF.
Professor Andres Floto is the Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Innovation Hub and explains more about why this research is needed, the research underway and the impact that this programme is making in CF research and beyond:
